I'll go first. I've been registered D for years, considering switching to R this cycle. Look at my post history if you doubt, sort by top.
Top issues for me are civil liberties, civil liberties, and economic policy (though this matters more for federal than state).
Considerations for switching to R are:
- Dems have a history of abusing or ignoring their primary process (2016, 2024), makes participating in them feel pointless. Republicans actually let outsiders win their primary.
- Republican primaries recently have a wider variety of viewpoints IMO. Republicans seem able to actually accomplish things when elected. More focus on civil liberties and economic policy, though with some obvious areas where it's the opposite (book bans, abortion, immigration).
- I would love for the democratic party in Oregon to have a legitimate challenger instead of the nuttiest person MAGA can come up with. Sane-ish candidates get crushed in Republican primaries. A lack of competition is bad. Years of single-party rule has created stagnant, broken policies.
- I am really mad that the dems reversed a ballot measure (M110).
The dem platform to me recently sounds a lot like:
- More taxes for more incompetently managed government programs
- Feel good policies that net neutral or make the situation worse (rent control etc)
- Competitive victimhood and deciding which in-group wins this time
- Complaining that they can't get anything done even when they have majorities in the legislature
- Crime doesn't exist, you're being gaslit by republicans.
- We don't really have a platform aside from being anti-trump
- We'll give you healthcare (just kidding, vote harder next time so we can have a super-super-super majority and then we'll finally pass it)
- We are afraid of technological progress and will hamper it with regulation whenever possible.
- Fascism is coming! And also let us take your guns to keep you safe (I don't own guns but support people who do)
The republican platform to me sounds a lot like:
- We've got lots of crazy ideas, some of them are actually decent. Our internal process is a warzone
- When elected, we actually fight hard for those ideas
- We acknowledge the budget is a problem. We are about free speech. Will we do anything about it? Probably not, but we acknowledge it, which is more than I can say for the D camp who never talk about the depreciation of our currency, who passed the TikTok ban, and who would love to throw you in jail for an offensive meme if legal.
- Public spaces have been completely ceded to a crime and homelessness. We'll make it so you can actually go in parks again without feeling unsafe.
- We will make it easy to build more housing.
- We are optimistic about the future and technological progress, we will make sure room exists for experimentation.
- We won't take your guns